


The Devilish Adventures of Shintaro Hyoudou

by Anime_PJ



Category: Highschool DxD (Anime)
Genre: F/M, Issei's Brother, Multi
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2019-11-09
Updated: 2020-03-23
Packaged: 2021-01-26 05:47:19
Rating: Explicit
Warnings: Graphic Depictions Of Violence
Chapters: 2
Words: 14,907
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/21369136
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Anime_PJ/pseuds/Anime_PJ
Summary: Shintaro Hyoudou, the class clown, the younger brother of the school's most infamous pervert. When he and his brother are killed one night, they'll both be dragged into a supernatural world that neither knew existed yet both seem important to for different reasons. How will the two of them go about surviving as Devils when everyone seems to want a piece of them?
Relationships: Himejima Akeno/Original Male Character(s), Hyoudou Issei/Raynare, Rias Gremory/Hyoudou Issei, Toujou Koneko/Original Male Character(s)
Comments: 3
Kudos: 19





	1. I Die

**First Person POV – Shintaro Hyoudou**

* * *

I fed some grass into my pocket and petted the hamster that I had nestled in there. He was a chubby little guy thanks to all the feeding he got throughout the day, but damn if that didn't make him cuter somehow. I grinned to myself at the thought of the ruckus this little guy was going to cause over the next week.

"You're such a child," said my best friend in that adorably monotone voice of hers, rolling her eyes. "What makes you think stealing the class pet is a good idea?"

"What makes me think _anything _is a good idea, Koneko-chan?" I asked. I pushed my glasses up my face with a single finger. "It's going to be fucking _hilarious_. As soon as everyone realises he's gone, _boom_, instant inner-classroom anarchy! I think I'll keep him for the week, see how long I can keep this up for. See just how worried people will get."

Koneko-chan sighed. "You're an idiot, Shin-kun."

My name is Shintaro Hyoudou, and what you're reading is me telling you how I became a massive supernatural badass. In the beginning, as you're seeing here, I was 16 years old and a first-year at Kuoh Academy, a school that had only a year ago become coed. Before that, it was an all-girl school, so the boy-girl ratio is still _massively _imbalanced in favour of the girls. Not that I'm complaining about being surrounded by ladies all day. I was a slim boy with pale skin, a stark contrast to the fair skin tone of the rest of my family. My eyes were an icy blue and my hair was jet black and spiked up in all directions. My eyes were framed in a pair of glasses. My face sported an amused grin most of the time; I had long since learned to find just about everything funny. I was wearing the boys' school uniform in a somewhat lazy, thrown-on fashion, with the black blazer with white highlights hanging open, the top three buttons of the white shirt unbuttoned, the black ribbon hanging loosely around the collar, black trousers that were just a little too tight for me, and brown shoes that were worn from all the running from pissed off authority figures I did.

Koneko Toujou-chan was a small girl, given she was the same age as I. Her white hair looked longer from the front than it actually was on account of the two bangs drooping past her shoulders, whereas the rest of her hair stopped at the neck, and she wore two black cat-shaped hair clips, one on either side of her head. She had remarkably pretty hazel eyes. She wore the girls' uniform, obviously, which consisted of a white shirt with a thin black ribbon, a black button-down corset with white highlights, a thigh-length magenta skirt with white highlights, and a pair of brown shoes. There was usually a shoulder cape to match the corset, but Koneko-chan chose not to wear that.

"Aww, don't be like that, Koneko-chan," I whined. "You're an essential part of my act! The straight girl to my agent of chaos."

"You mean I'm the one who stops you from getting into trouble," she said.

"That, too," I admitted. "But come on, even _you _can't deny that my escapades are all the more entertaining with you around to look disappointed."

"… Yeah, I just 'look' disappointed."

"That hurts, Koneko-chan. That _really _hurts. Where would I be without my best girl?"

It was a rare moment of triumph for me when I got some red to appear on that stoic face of hers. She would never admit to being embarrassed by my words, but I could see it. "Idiot," she muttered, looking away from me.

"You know you love me."

"Whatever you say." She saw them at the same time as I did and gave the tiniest of grimaces. "I need to go. Club activities. Have fun with your pervert brother and his pervert friends."

"I will. See ya!"

As Koneko-chan walked away, I walked towards my brother Issei Hyoudou and his two friends, Matsuda-san and Motohama-san. Better known around Kuoh Academy as the Perverted Trio. A well-earned title, you can be sure.

Matsuda-san had shaved hair that just barely showed atop his head and squinted so tightly that his eyes weren't visible. He wore the school uniform normally, but with the blazer unbuttoned. He was known around school as "Perverted Baldy" and "Sexual Harassment Paparazzi." From what Ise-nii told me, he used to be in a few different sport clubs but was in the photography club now.

Motohama-san was probably the most "normal" guy I've ever seen. He had thick black hair, a relatively normal face, and a pair of thick-framed glasses that constantly reflected the light, so his eyes couldn't be seen, either. He wore the school uniform absolutely perfectly, all buttoned up and everything. He was known around school as "Perverted Glasses" and "Three Sizes Scouter." He had this unusual and, from a certain viewpoint, cool ability to calculate a woman's three sizes just by looking at her. I remember thinking he would be a _terrifying _mathematician if he put that to use in other areas.

Then there was my older brother, Ise-nii, the most infamous pervert in school and the guy whose reputation I was slowly but steadily crawling out of. Our hair grew in similarly uncontrolled spikes, but that was just about the only physical feature we shared, for his hair was brown, as were his eyes. His skin was pretty normal in tone. He probably would have been considered quite good-looking if it wasn't for the expression of lechery that so often took hold of his face. He wore the school uniform with the shirt and blazer both completely open and a red T-shirt underneath, and he swapped out the brown shoes for white trainers.

The three of them were laying on the grass underneath a tree. I approached them with a smile on my face.

"Fuck off," Motohama-san said automatically as he noticed my approach. "I want you to maintain a distance of at least three feet of me at any given time."

"Aww, come on," I said playfully. "It wasn't _that _bad, was it?"

"You covered the lenses of my glasses with permanent marker, Hyoudou. Permanent. _Fucking_. Marker. Do you have any _idea _how much trouble it is to get that stuff out?"

"Sure I do. I tested it on my own first. _Duh_. What, did you think I'd do that if I wasn't sure you could get it off? I like a laugh, Motohama-san, but I draw the line at doing permanent damage to other people's property. I maintain a standard far above such things, you lowly swine, and I'll thank you to remember that." I made sure to grin to show it was just another joke. He had evidently taken the glasses thing more personally than intended.

"Chill out, Motohama," said Ise-nii. "It was just a prank. He does that shit all the time at home."

"And you can't say it wasn't funny," said Matsuda-san.

Motohama-san just grunted at them, but showed no more hostility to my approach.

"So, what's up, guys?" I asked, sitting down next to them. "Laying down in the hopes that your boners from all the fantasising you're doing will make little fleshy sun dials?"

"We're watching the track team when they run by," said Ise-nii.

As though on cue, a group of girls in the school sports gear jogged along on the part of the field nearest to us chanting "One two, one two!" as they went. I had to admit, the sweat making the clothes stick to their bodies added quite a bit of appeal to those clothes. Not that I would admit that out loud. If watching Ise-nii and his friends had taught me anything at all, it was that keeping sexual fantasies to yourself is an excellent way of surviving high school.

"Say, you hang out with Koneko Toujou, right?" Matsuda-san asked me.

"Yeah," I said.

"You think you could introduce us?"

"I _could _… but I don't think you'd like where your balls end up."

"Huh?"

"Over there," I pointed to the left, "over there," I pointed to the right, "and up there," I pointed to the top of a nearby tree. "Koneko-chan would see you approaching and make sure your voice never reached any kind of depth ever again."

Matsuda-san stared at me in horror for a minute, then flopped back and groaned. "It's not fair! How did you get so lucky? You're only in your first year!"

"And yet we, your senpai, have been here for over a year now and don't even have one girl between us," Motohama-san whined.

"Why'd my otouto have to be the one born with a way with the ladies?" Ise-nii cried. It was comical.

"To be fair, guys, you might have started off wrong by letting the entire school know your intentions right from the start," I pointed out. "Women tend not to respond too well if you just tell them outright that your only interest is in sticking your genitals inside their genitals. Unless they're hookers, but in that case, I know a place just down the street where late at night—"

"Shut the hell up and stop making fun of us!" all three shouted at me at once.

"But it's so much _fun_," I argued, grinning.

Before anything else could be said, a soul-piercing, ear-destroying sound reverberated through the area. "_KYAAAAAAAAAAAAA!_"

_Ah_, I thought. _The mating call of the most irritating of the female species on Planet Earth … fangirls. _A shudder rocked my body and I could tell that the other three were having similar feelings. Having fangirls sounded pretty fun, especially if you were a hormone-ridden teenage boy, but when they were someone else's … even I'll admit it got very grating on the nerves, and I wasn't even all that jealous of the guy they were squealing over.

Motohama-san growled. "Kiba Yuuto. Every girl in school wants to sex him up."

"And every guy wants to _mess _him up!" Matsuda-san added.

"That tool!" said Ise-nii. "I don't get it! Just 'cause he's hot, sexy, really smart, and the coolest guy in school, they all wanna rub up on Kiba!?"

"Life really does blow sometimes …" Motohama-san moped.

"No, you _wish _life would blow you," I said in a chipper tone. "So long as _someone's _doing it, you don't really care, right?"

"Shut the fuck up, Hyoudou."

"Oh shit!" Matsuda-san cried, standing up. "We're gonna be late!"

"Ah, onto the daily attempt to peep on the kendo girls, are we?" I asked rhetorically. I knew for a fact the answer would be yes. "I wonder where the bruises will be on you this time? Maybe they'll strip you so everyone can see the bruises as well as your pathetic little winkies. Hahaha, there are endless possibilities!"

"Whatever," said Matsuda-san.

"Yeah, there's no guarantee it'll happen this time," Motohama-san agreed, moving to follow him.

"I like the optimism, guys," I said. "Please, keep that up. The inevitable tragedy of your situation just enhances the comedy I experience from it."

"You're such a little shit," Ise-nii commented as he went with them.

"But you still love me!" I reminded him.

"Yep, and I still can't figure out why."

I laughed again as they walked away. Those three getting beaten up was always a golden opportunity for some laughs. And I knew for a fact the kendo team enjoyed doing it, so in a way, they were making a noble sacrifice to put a big smile on other people's faces. That sort of wilful self-humiliation is rare outside of idiots these days. Let it be known that despite their perversity, I didn't consider any of them idiots – Motohama-san's measurement ability spoke well of his mathematical potential, Matsuda-san was actually a pretty gifted athlete as well as having knowledge on shot composition and such for his photography, and Ise-nii … well, he didn't have any one particular skill _per se_, but he was actually incredibly kind and accepting of others and had the patience to put up with _me _as a little brother, so that speaks well of him.

I gathered some more grass and dumped it into my pocket for the hamster before I stood up. When their inevitable beating got the better of them, the Perverted Trio would regroup behind the Old School Building, which was a place nobody ever really bothered to go to except to gawk at the front of it. Not many schools have old, decrepit-looking buildings as part of the structure, I'm sure, so it was kind of a novelty to have it.

I reached the back of the Old School Building, a little patch of grass in the otherwise weed-infested area, and flopped out on the ground. I took the hamster from my pocket and put him down on my chest, petting him softly. He was a cute little guy. As I laid there idly petting the little fluffball, I could have sworn I saw Koneko-chan in one of the windows for a second, but as soon as I raised my hand to wave, she was gone. It was weird. _I'm probably seeing things, _I decided.

Pretty soon, Matsuda-san and Motohama-san crashed through the bushes, panting, and sat up against the wall of the building.

"So Ise-nii was the sacrificial lamb today, was he?" I said. "A wise strategy, leaving a friend behind. Like the saying goes, 'If you get attacked by a bear in the woods, you don't need to outrun the bear, you just need to outrun the guy next to you.' A philosophy held primarily by psychopaths, sociopaths, and, most commonly, cowards. Which are you two, I wonder?"

"Cowards," they both said shamelessly.

"… Well, okay then."

"When those swords come out, Hyoudou, it's every man for himself," Motohama-san explained. "Ise would understand."

"And even if he don't … meh, fuck 'im," said Matsuda-san.

"Your sense of camaraderie is truly inspiring," I deadpanned.

Several minutes later, Ise-nii came barrelling through the bushes, too, only he was covered in red welts and bruises from where the kendo team had laid into him with their weapons. It wasn't the first time I'd seen this and I would be lying if I said I didn't find it just a _little _funny. Whereas with most people I would need to have very ill feelings towards them to take pleasure in their pain, sibling law decreed that Ise-nii and I are allowed to take pleasure in each other's suffering so long as no serious injuries are caused. Brothers are allowed to do that.

"You guys are assholes," he huffed at Matsuda-san and Motohama-san once he'd caught his breath.

"Oh look, he finally noticed," I said.

"Did you at least get to see some nip?" asked Motohama-san.

"No, I didn't get to see any nip!" Ise-nii snapped. "I was too busy getting beaten up with bamboo swords for looking through a tit hole _I didn't even get to look through _because of _you ass _… holes …" He trailed off as his gaze turned upwards, towards the decrepit-looking building beside us.

I followed his gaze and caught sight of one of the most popular girls in school making eye contact with my brother. She had the fairest skin I've ever seen, beautifully crimson red hair that dazzled the eyes, and blue-green eyes. She was wearing the girls' uniform in full, complete with the shoulder cape that Koneko-chan lacks, and it hugged her body tightly and left very little to the imagination. It was no wonder, really, that all the boys in school drooled over her. I was one of them – she was undoubtedly one of the most beautiful women I'd ever seen.

Almost as soon as she appeared, she vanished, walking away from the window.

"Rias Gremory," Motohama-san commented. "Thirty six, twenty four, thirty six. President of the Occult Research Club. Word is that she's from Northern Europe."

"Stupid sexy foreigners," I joked, though I was as captivated as they were.

"Redheads," Ise-nii hummed. "There's just something about redheads …"

"And brunettes," I said. "And blondes. Basically anything with tits as far as you're concerned, huh, Ise-nii?"

"Yep." His reply came without a hint of shame. I could almost respect it. Though I could tell by his tone that he wasn't all there.

We hung out there for a little while longer and I had more fun needling the three of them, but I got bored of that eventually and headed home ahead of Ise-nii. It was a peaceful walk, but every now and then, I couldn't help but get the feeling I was being followed.

* * *

My bedroom in the dear old Hyoudou household was built on what I'll fondly call "organised chaos." Posters from anime, movies, TV shows and other stuff I'm a fan of covered the walls, there was a bookshelf full of books, manga, comics, and DVDs, and most of my clothes and spare manga and such were scattered around on the floor, along with a bunch of other crap I'd accumulated over the years. Kaa-san always said it was a typical teenage boy's room. It made no difference to me, though; so long as I knew where everything was, I saw no real reason to clean.

A knock at my door got me groaning. I put the copy of Clive Barker's first _Books of Blood _volume on my bed and went to answer the door. It was Ise-nii. "'Sup, Broseph?" I asked.

"Uh, hey, Shin," he said awkwardly. It wasn't bad awkward. If anything, he looked excited, it was just that he couldn't find the words to say why at the moment. "Um … there's, uh … something happened and I …"

"Hey, is it just me or are you turning into a bibbling idiot?" I asked.

"It's … it's not just you." He rubbed the back of his head sheepishly. "Sorry, man. I'm just … I'm _excited_. This is big news, man, real big news. I … I got a girlfriend."

I sighed. "Ise-nii, we've been over this. You can't date your right hand, it's just not anatomically possible."

"That's not what I meant, you little shit!" he said. I started laughing. "Okay, yeah, you go ahead and laugh it up. Just know that I got a girlfriend before you did! You hear that, Shin? _I have a girlfriend_. And the best part? She. Asked. Me."

"Really?" I asked, dropping the joke. "Fair play, bro. Looks like you might finally get your end away. So how'd it go down?"

"It was … kinda weird, actually," Ise-nii admitted. "She just sorta approached me on the way home. I've never seen this girl before, but she's super cute and she knows me. Says she's been interested for a while but just hasn't had the guts to approach until now. Honestly, it's like a dream come true. And no, before you say it, _not _the wet kind."

"I wasn't gonna say anything," I lied.

"Yeah, _sure _you weren't. But yeah, that's all I came to tell you. I got a girlfriend and I'm super psyched and I can't wait to rub it in Matsuda and Motohama's faces." He moved to leave, but just before he got the door closed, he paused and blinked at what he saw crawling around on one of my shelves. "When the hell did you get a hamster?"

* * *

In an unusual twist, I walked to school ahead of Ise-nii the following morning. He stayed behind so he could meet up with his girlfriend. I figured that was fair enough and went on ahead, but without him there the walk was just dull. I quickly started to miss the back and forth banter we would usually have where I was the one with the most legitimately witty remarks. Not being able to lord my smartassery over him made for a very boring morning, indeed.

"'Sup, fuckfaces?" I greeted as I bumped into Matsuda-san and Motohama-san by the school gates.

"Just waiting on your bro," said Matsuda-san.

… _Oh my God, he hasn't told them yet, _I realised as a grin grew on my face. _This is going to be HILARIOUS. _I didn't usually hang out with these two when my brother wasn't around and being seen doing so would no doubt damage my reputation a bit, but being related to Ise-nii already had a lot of girls looking at me with caution and, honestly, a few rumours floating about would be worth seeing the looks on their faces when Ise-nii told them what was up. So … fuck it.

Though as I caught sight of Ise-nii approaching, I very nearly burst out laughing before he could get to us. It was better than I could have hoped for.

_He had brought her with him!_

I have to admit, I was a bit jealous. Ise-nii had really caught himself a looker. She was an attractive girl with long, silky black hair that flowed all the way down to her hips, and violet eyes. She was from a different school, as evidenced by her uniform, which was made up of a red blazer with a golden P embroidered on the left breast, a white undershirt, a red bow, and a green skirt with a thin white highlight at the bottom. And my God, what a _body_. Even with that innocently friendly face, that body was _build _for sin.

Matsuda-san and Motohama-san were looking, too. They clearly saw how hot she was. I could hear the gears turning in their heads as they saw her coming, hand in hand with Ise-nii. And let me tell you, the looks of sheer despair that crossed their faces when the pieces finally fit together in their minds was _so much funnier _than I had envisioned.

"No …" Motohama-san muttered. "No … It isn't true …"

"This isn't possible …" Matsuda-san murmured.

"Search your feelings," I said, smirking at them. "You know it to be true."

"But … but …"

"Hey, guys," Ise-nii said as he and his girlfriend finally reached us. "I should've figured you'd stick around for this, Shin."

"You know me, bro," I said. "Always eager to partake in the suffering of others."

"I'm glad you're here, anyway. Now I can introduce you all." He gestured to the smoking hot girl next to him. "This is Yuuma Amano, my girlfriend."

Amano-san bowed. "It's nice to meet you all," she said politely.

"And as I told Shin last night," Ise-nii went on, drawing closer to his friends so he could whisper to them, "the best part: _She. Asked. Me._"

That seemed to be the final straw for the other two, as they crumpled to their knees and started wailing in shock and horror.

"Hey, stop whackin' it and maybe you'll find one, too," Ise-nii encouraged them.

… _I've been rubbing off on him, _I thought. I didn't know whether to be pleased or disappointed that he was picking up my schtick.

As Ise-nii and Amano-san walked off together, I decided to let Matsuda-san and Motohama-san wallow in self-pity alone. I could get a lot out of making fun of them, but this was just sad. Mocking them at this point would just be bullying needlessly, which I'm not a fan of. So I started walking to my own classroom. I got the usual looks when I walked through the halls. Some were amused, some were annoyed, and a select few were distrusting – not everyone believed I could be completely unlike Ise-nii due to him being the older brother and, therefore, the kind of "bad influence" that would have raised me into a sexual deviant. I ignored the latter two types and shot appreciative grins at those who smiled at me. I always appreciated when others were as entertained by my antics as I was.

See, whereas Ise-nii was infamous around school for his perversions, peeping on girls and the like, I danced to a different beat, though not everyone believed it. I've always put quite a lot of importance on having a sense of humour. No matter what happened, I wanted to keep on laughing and get as many people as possible laughing along with me. That's just who I am – I like to keep people smiling.

I made it to my homeroom and took my usual seat right next to Koneko-chan. I got some jealous glares from boys who were already in the room, but I just put up the peace sign at them and got on with life.

"Morning, Koneko-chan," I said happily. "How's my precious little Snow White this morning?"

"Ha-ha, a crack at my hair, so original of you," she drawled. "I'm doing okay. How are you?"

"I'm super!" I exclaimed. "I just got to witness soul-crushing despair being felt by two idiots. Can you believe my brother has a girlfriend? _I _can barely believe my brother has a girlfriend. And Matsuda-san and Motohama-san … they just don't _want _to believe my brother has a girlfriend. It makes them the most fun to watch."

"You should really stop to take a breath every now and then."

"Awww, you _do _care."

"Just trying to give the janitors less mess to clean up."

"You _wound _me, Koneko-chan. Truly you do."

Before anything else could be said, the bell rang to signal the start of the school day. All of us stood up to bow to the sensei when he came in, then sat back down again.

"Okay, class," he said, "before we get started, there's been a report from one of the other classrooms that their class pet has gone missing. God only knows what high schoolers are doing with a class pet, but whatever. It's a hamster. Be on the lookout."

I could feel Koneko-chan's eyes burning into the side of my head for the rest of the morning. It took all the willpower I had not to burst out laughing.

* * *

A few days past and the end of the week arrived. I was growing increasingly pleased with Ise-nii's good mood. Seeing him so happy made _me _happy. Ise-nii's happiness wasn't the only thing that had me in a good mood, either. This little hamster was growing on me. I was in the process of feeding the fluffy little guy, very nearly considering keeping him, when someone knocked on my door. I went to answer it and Ise-nii was standing there with a dopey grin on his face.

"I've got a date," he said excitedly. "Yuuma-chan and I are going out on Sunday."

"Nice one, bro," I said, slapping him a high five. "Enjoy yourself. And make sure you show that woman a good time, ya hear? All women are queens – remember that."

"Yeah, yeah, I got ya," he said. "Just figured I'd share the news with someone, so you can go back to … whatever it is you do in here. Frankly, considering the shit you're willing to do in public, I'm not sure I even wanna _know _what you require _privacy _for."

"Good. 'Cause if I told you, I'd have to kill you."

"Whatevs. Night, bro."

"G'night," I said as I closed the door. Then I went and sat on my bed and got my phone. A golden opportunity had been presented to me, and I would be damned if I was going to waste it. I dialled the number I had somehow managed to coerce out of Koneko-chan near the start of the year and waited.

"What?" she asked when she picked up.

"Rhetorical question that I think you can already guess isn't rhetorical," I said. "How would you feel about accompanying me into town on Sunday with the purpose of spying on my brother and his girlfriend to see if he really knows how to treat a lady on a date? Plus, if I let slip details about his date to him in conversation that I shouldn't know, it'll freak him out and that'll be hilarious."

"…" She was quiet for long enough that I almost asked if she was okay. "I'll have to get back to you on that." Then she hung up.

I took the phone away from my ear and looked down on it in confusion and a little worry. That … didn't sound like a good sign.

* * *

**Third Person POV**

* * *

Koneko stared down at her phone for a good few minutes after hanging up, wondering what the actual odds of this situation occurring were. They couldn't be particularly high because this was the mother of all coincidences as far as she was concerned.

"Buchou," she said, addressing Rias Gremory.

"Yes, Koneko?" Rias responded.

"That call I got just now was from Issei Hyoudou's little brother."

"Ah, yes, 'Shin-kun.'" Rias said teasingly. Normally, this was the sort of thing Akeno would be doing, but Rias could indulge herself every now and then. Especially since opportunities to make Koneko blush had been so rare until she'd met that boy in the first year. "What was it about?"

"He asked me if I want to spy on his brother's date with him on Sunday."

Rias was gobsmacked. "That … is an _amazing _coincidence," she remarked. "An opportunity to follow Issei Hyoudou by spending time with his brother … Honestly, the odds of this are amazing."

"So, should I say yes?"

"Yes. Though make sure to keep your distance, we don't want the Fallen Angel catching on. And it if looks like she's going to make a move … get out of there. We can't interfere over a human, it would just risk too much hostility."

"Of course, Buchou." Koneko took her phone out and redialled Shintaro's number. He must have still had it on hand from when she hung up, because he answered in barely a second.

"Hello?" he said. There was a tinge of nervousness to his voice that she wasn't very familiar with.

"Hi," she said. "Sure, I'll go with you. I just had to check something first, was all."

"Wait, really?" There was relief in his voice now. "That's great! So, I'll meet you in town on Sunday. Sound good?"

"Yeah, sounds good. See you then."

"Bye, Koneko-chan!"

He hung up that time, and now it was Koneko staring down at her phone with mixed feelings. He sounded so excited to be spending time with her outside of school, and not just over following his brother and that Fallen Angel around. The joy in his voice was making her feel really bad about using his invitation like this. Maybe Rias and the others were right, maybe she really _was _closer to that idiot than she was letting on …

* * *

**First Person POV – Shintaro Hyoudou**

* * *

I made sure to keep out of Ise-nii's sight as I followed him into town on Sunday. I waited five or so minutes after he left the house to go after him. I had caught sight of him a couple of times, but always made sure I was keeping enough distance and never showed myself if he was facing my direction for whatever reason. I had dressed in some casual clothes: a dark khaki shirt, a snow-coloured jacket, firebrick trousers, and blanched almond shoes. I may have, admittedly, gone a bit overboard with my appearance considering what today's objective was, but I was hanging out with Koneko-chan outside of school, so I wanted to look nice.

I got to the middle of town and Ise-nii stopped, so I did, too. I once again made sure to keep out of sight. I settled down in a nearby cafe, which was also where Koneko-chan and I had agreed to meet up, so it worked out well, really.

After about ten minutes, I realised just how early for his date Ise-nii must have arrived. That was a good start. Better to be ten minutes early than five minutes later, that's what I always say, especially when it comes to meeting a lady. There was this funky-looking lady with bat wings in her hair handing out slips of paper or something outside, and Ise-nii got given one, but other than that, not much interesting happened until Koneko-chan showed up.

Koneko-chan didn't announce herself when she turned up, merely sitting down across from me. She looked very pretty in a gold V-neck T-shirt, a thigh-length dark magenta skirt, a pair of light salmon stockings with cat paw patterns on them, and a pair of floral white shoes. "Hi," she greeted me as she sat down.

"Morning, Koneko-chan," I said. "You look nice."

For the briefest of moments, I thought I saw pink tinge her cheeks. "Thanks," she said.

"I've ordered us some ice cream," I said. "Looks like Ise-nii arrived early, and I know you have a sweet tooth, so I figured I'd treat you."

"You didn't have to do that."

"Don't worry about it. Think of it as thanks for joining me on this little espionage mission." Just then, the waitress arrived and put our bowls of ice cream down on the table. We ate in relative silence. Koneko-chan finished hers before me – I wasn't joking about her having a sweet tooth. When we first met, I would sometimes bribe her with sweets to keep her from calling me out on some of my more elaborate jokes, but she'd since mellowed to me … I think, anyway. I no longer had to bribe her to get her to keep my schemes a secret, so there was some progress, at least.

Amano-san turned up pretty soon after that, and the mission began. Following Ise-nii and Amano-san through town was a lot more chaotic than I'd been expecting, what with people and particularly other people from school buzzing around all over the place, but we managed to keep pace. The awkward parts were when they stopped in a store and we had to go into one to look inconspicuous. I bought Koneko-chan a pink cap with cat ears on it in one of them, figuring she'd like it because of those clips she usually had in her hair. She seemed to appreciate it, but it was always kind of hard to tell with her.

We nearly lost sight of them when we stopped to do that. To tell you the truth, following Ise-nii and Amano-san seemed less and less important as the day went on. It became incredibly apparent that I didn't care about following them as much as I thought I did when we had to stop while the happy couple stopped in the cafe we were in that morning to get ice cream, and Koneko-chan and I had to stop in a small arcade across the street for some cover. I got so invested in talking to Koneko-chan and playing some of the games near the front of the building with her that she had to actively _tell me _when Ise-nii and Amano-san were leaving. I was getting very wrapped up in just spending the day with Koneko-chan.

As the sun started to go down and people started to clear the streets, I felt disappointed. The day would be ending soon. Amano-san was leading Ise-nii to the park, which, as we got closer, seemed to be deserted. That got me excited again. I was about to see my big brother get to first base.

"It's getting late," Koneko-chan said as we hid in the bushes and watched the two of them walking from behind the treeline. "We should really leave them to their privacy at this point."

"But it's just getting to the _good _part," I mock-whined. Part of me knew she was right, but somehow … I don't know, I guess I just felt compelled to stay and see this out.

"I'll admit that your pervert brother managed the date without being disgusting. Don't you think he's earned some alone time?"

_Compliments? _I thought in surprise. _Wow, she is _really _adamant about this. _"If you wanna leave, I won't be offended," I said. It was true, though I would have been disappointed to see her go like this. After such a great day, it seemed wrong. "I had fun with you today, Koneko-chan. Maybe we can hang out together again in the future? Without tailing my brother, obviously. It'd be awkward if this became our regular activity."

She sighed. "Okay." Her voice was quieter than usual, and I detected a hint of emotion, which was also unusual. "See you in school." As she walked away, I could have sworn I heard her mutter "… I'm sorry, Shin-kun …" in an uncharacteristically emotional voice, which is why I was sure I had imagined it.

I turned my attention back to Ise-nii and Amano-san.

It looked like it was going well. Amano-san was speaking, but I couldn't hear her, and walking towards Ise-nii more with every single word until she was right in front of him. She leaned in, I thought for the kiss, but whispered something in his ear. To my confusion, Ise-nii took a step back and said something else. That was when Amano-san sprouted giant feathered black wings from her back and all of her clothes ripped off, soon being replaced by an outfit made of those black feathers that looked more like black leather. It covered basically _nothing _but her breasts and crotch, and despite my shock and the ice cold feel of the blood in my veins, I felt a sudden stiffness coming on down below.

I was still frozen in shock when the light gathered in Amano-san's hand and took shape, forming a long, sharp object that looked like some kind of spear. She spoke some more, but I was still out of earshot, and then raised her arm and threw the spear of light. It hit Ise-nii right in the stomach. Everything stilled for a moment … then the spear vanished and blood started to fountain out of Ise-nii's stomach and he fell to the ground, yelling in pain, which I unfortunately _was _able to hear. The blood-curdling, pain-filled screams of my brother finally snapped me out of whatever shock had frozen me to begin with.

And where before I felt fear, now I felt nothing but rage.

"_Bitch_," I hissed under my breath, getting up from the ground without really thinking about it. "_Bitch_!" I said again, this time as a shout. I took off running at Amano-san, my body reacting before my brain had a chance to catch up. "_I'LL FUCKING KILL YOU, BITCH!_"

She turned with a startled look on her face. A spear formed in her hand once again, and before I knew about it, it was impaled in my chest. The wound burned fiercely, like someone was lighting my blood on fire within my veins, and I collapsed to the floor instantly, unable to stop the scream of pain from ripping its way out of my throat. Amano-san stared down at me with wide eyes for a few seconds and then took to the skies, leaving large black feathers behind as she flew off. One of them landed next to me.

I turned my head and tried to face Ise-nii, who was looking at me with wide eyes that were quickly draining of life. My own vision was fading, as well. A bright light shone from somewhere nearby, but I didn't have the strength to turn my head and find the source.

As I lost my vision entirely, somebody came into view … and was that Koneko-chan standing behind them?

* * *

**Third Person POV**

* * *

Raynare flew for five minutes, breathing heavily the entire time, then landed not far from the church she and the others were using as a base. She stood there in silence for a couple of minutes, letting the racing of her heart die down, then began to curse. "Shit," she said. "Shit, shit, _shit_. That wasn't supposed to happen, that wasn't part of the _plan_ … Oh, God, he's gonna _kill _me …"


	2. We Lived, Bitch

When I woke up on Monday morning, I felt like death, and I don't mean in the usual way all teenagers feel like death when they wake up on Monday mornings. Everything hurt: my head, my chest, my arms, my legs, _all of it_. I didn't know what the hell had hit me when I was coming home last night, but that fucking thing needed taking somewhere to be dismantled. I stood up groggily and walked over to my bedroom window, then I pulled open my curtains. I immediately recoiled from the sun which felt like it was burning me despite the fact that it was still nowhere near that kind of summer weather for another two months.

"The fuck …?" I wondered out loud as I stepped back into the more shady area of my room. "I'm not hungover, am I? I don't _think _I drank anything last night … I don't even know a place that would _serve _someone my age …" I closed my eyes to think and got flashes of being impaled the night before. _What a fucked up dream, _I thought, sighing. It had seemed so _real_.

_Wait, I'm not a vampire, am I? _I asked myself. Then I hit myself in the head because that was fucking stupid.

There was a small squeaking sound from my shelf. The hamster. _Oh yeah, I planned to sneak you back in today, didn't I? _I thought. Whereas the thought of the smiles on the faces of the students finding their beloved class pet returned to them filled me with joy a week ago, feeling the way I did this morning, I just couldn't bring myself to feel any enthusiasm over it. This was going to suck. I hated feeling like I was just going through the motions.

I decided to see if hydration would help with my current problem. I carefully stepped around the parts in the room that were being lit by the sun, which thankfully wasn't shining _directly _through the window at this time of the day, and exited my room, where I promptly bumped into Ise-nii, who seemed to have the same idea I did. He looked like shit. I assumed I was looking similar. He also looked incredibly freaked out, which was something else I could understand.

"Morning, Ise-nii," I groaned.

"Morning, Shin," he said. "Hey, uh … you don't remember anything weird happening last night, do you?"

I perked up a bit at that. Could it be …? "… Yeah, there's some pretty weird shit buzzing around in my head," I admitted.

"Me, too," he said.

"… I think we'd best save this until we're heading to school," I suggested. "Don't want Kaa-san and Tou-san hearing this conversation and thinking we've both gone mental."

"Y-Yeah, good point. Were you headed to the bathroom?"

"Nah, you go ahead. I'll use the sink downstairs."

* * *

Walking to school that morning was literally the worst experience of my life so far. Drinking water had done very little to help with the full-body pain, and the sun's burning sensation on my skin was only making it worse now that I was outside and directly exposed to it. Ise-nii walked beside me and he looked just as shitty as I felt. We were both walking a lot slower than our usual pace. Neither of us could get any real motivation to move quickly with the way we were feeling.

"So …" Ise-nii began after we walked in awkward silence for a while, "… you remember what happened last night?"

I swallowed. "Yeah, I do," I said. "I was … honestly hoping you wouldn't. It would be so much easier to just assume everything that happened yesterday was a really messed up dream."

"Yeah, tell me about it … Hey, wait, what the hell were you even doing there?"

"That's not important."

"I disagree."

I sighed. "I was following you on your date to make sure you didn't fuck it up," I admitted. "And so I could make fun of you for it afterwards. Really freak you out, know what I mean?"

"… Not gonna lie, that's pretty fucking creepy, Shin," he said. "But … I guess I'm glad, in a way. Not that you died or anything! Or … _whatever _it was that happened to us. It's just a lot easier to deal with knowing you can, you know, clarify my story. I can't decide whether I feel better or worse for knowing all this shit really happened, but it's _something_, at least."

I was glad he saw it like that. This would have been really awkward if he had taken offence. "So … what do we do now?" I asked.

"I dunno, little bro," he said. "But we need to figure this shit out."

"Yeah … we really do. What the hell happened after we passed out …?"

That question haunted us all the way to school. When we separated, we decided it would be best to figure things out later. Ise-nii said he would go and ask Matsuda-san and Motohama-san if they knew anything, seeing as he had introduced Amano-san, or whatever the hell her name really was, to them the week before. I said I would ask Koneko-chan since she was with me when I was spying on his date, right up until just before any of this went down.

* * *

I got to my classroom and sat at my desk. Koneko-chan was already there. I thought about how I could carefully broach the subject of yesterday, although I admittedly didn't expect much out of her seeing as she had left before the event even occurred. As I sat down, I felt a bit better.

"Hey, Koneko-chan," I said, comforted by the friendly face.

"Hi," she said, and nothing else.

"Um …" I began. "You, er, don't remember anything _weird _happening yesterday, do you?"

"No," she said.

"So, after you left the park, everything was normal?"

"We never went to the park yesterday."

"Yes, we did, when we were following Ise-nii and his girlfriend around."

"You expect me to believe that pervert has a girlfriend?"

I looked at her, my mouth agape. Did she … not remember? What was going on here? "You _know _he did," I said shakily. I couldn't help it, my voice was coming out like it would in the cold. "This … this happened last week …"

She just shrugged. I knew I shouldn't stare and that it made me look like a weirdo, but there was something bubbling inside me I didn't like in relation to Koneko-chan. This … this was _hurting_, deep down, in a way I hadn't felt before. She _had _to be lying, right? _I _remembered. _Ise-nii _remembered. We couldn't have both had the same hallucination, could we? That didn't seem possible. But why would Koneko-chan lie to me like this? Somehow, in my head, it made even less sense than the rest of the situation.

Or maybe I was just going crazy. I guess that's also a possibility.

* * *

Somehow, I ended the school day more upset than I had begun it. Koneko-chan had been avoiding me all day, I was sure of it. Usually, I could approach her for conversation in the hallways with no problem whatsoever, but today, there were always people strategically placed between us that made getting to her problematic, and when I got to where she was, she had already moved on. In classes we had together, she had apparently decided to switch seats for the day so that she was sitting away from me. That was already bad, but what made it worse was this weird pain in my chest I'd been feeling since she lied (if I wasn't insane) to me this morning. I didn't like this feeling.

I had returned the hamster to its classroom discreetly at lunch, but the thought of the good cheer its return would bring didn't excite me in the way it normally would have. My emotions, other than that pain in my chest, just felt … dull.

_I just wish this day would end, _I thought miserably. _If only I could turn back the clock to last week … Just that one night and everything seems so different … I don't like it …_

A hand on my shoulder stopped me short as I started to walk out of the school gates without really paying attention to anything around me. I turned to see who it was and saw that it was Ise-nii looking at me with some concern. "Hey, Shin, you okay?" he asked.

I laughed. It was a fake laugh and I knew he could tell. I was never good at faking it (that's what she said). "Why wouldn't I be?" I asked sarcastically. "I only appear to be having a mental breakdown and am actively questioning my entire sense of reality. Other than that, I'm _great_."

Ise-nii brought me in for a bro-hug and I felt somewhat better, not just because of the comfort of my brother but the thought of all the erotic fanfiction the girls who were seeing this would likely think up because they were all sick in the head and every girl in this school had a dire obsession with slash fiction genuinely amused me as much as it sickened me. You would be _astounded _the kind of ships these girls could come up with. And they call _Ise-nii _sick.

The thought managed to coerce a genuine chuckle out of me. "Thanks, Ise-nii," I said. "Now please let go before girls start saying one of us is adopted to justify their twisted imaginations."

"Good call," he said, laughing a bit as he let me go. "Look, Shin, I know this is bugging the hell out of you. It's bugging me, too. But Matsuda and Motohama don't remember Yuuma-chan at all, and all the pictures we took together on my phone are just sorta … _gone_. I … I think it might be best if we just try going back to normal."

"… Yeah, you're probably right," I said without meaning it. I wanted to know what was happening. I wanted to know why Koneko-chan was avoiding me.

"I'm gonna head over to Matsuda's place with him and Motohama to watch some porn," Ise-nii said without so much as an ounce of shame. "I'll be out late, most likely, so I guess I'll see you in the morning."

"Ew," I said in disgust. "You guys are making _actual _plans to watch _porn _together? I dunno what _you _do when you're watching porn, but with _me _it's not exactly a spectator sport. Or, what, are you guys into the old circlejerk? Like performing 'dead man's hand' only with someone else's hand and it's not so dead?"

"Should've known that'd just give you ammunition …" he muttered, though the smirk on his face told me he was pleased I had my sense of humour back. "I'll see you tomorrow."

"See you tomorrow." I watched him walk towards his two friends, then turned around and started walking home.

I thought about Koneko-chan the whole way back.

* * *

The night had the exact opposite effect on my to the day. I felt fucking _amazing_. _Too _amazing, in fact, as at the point in the night when I _should _have been going to sleep, I felt so full of energy that sleep was literally impossible. I felt like going for a run, which wasn't something I would usually be thinking. Plus, the lights were off and the curtains were drawn, but I could still _see _like the whole damn room was being lit up. It made sleeping somewhat difficult even in addition to the energy boost I was experiencing.

That was why I spent the middle of the night pacing my room rather than trying to get to sleep like a normal human being.

"What the hell is happening to me?" I asked aloud as I paced. I couldn't help it, the extra energy was making me project everything out loud. I would have to get control of that. "I get hurt when the sun shines on me, I get extra energetic at night … Am I _absolutely sure _I'm not a vampire?" I hit myself again. "No, enough of that, you idiot, vampires don't exist. Maybe I've suddenly become an albino? That'd explain the sun, but not what I'm currently experiencing … Hmm … We live in confusing times, it would seem." I stood still for a few minutes, thinking, trying to get rid of the excess energy by rapidly tapping my foot. It wasn't working, so I started pacing again.

"What the hell's up with Koneko-chan?" My thoughts went back to her for what felt like, and probably _was_, the millionth time that evening. "Why's she been ducking and dodging me all day? Did I do something wrong? Oh God, I _really _hope I didn't do anything wrong … Was I too forceful in my questioning this morning? Did I make her uncomfortable? I hope not … But then why is she lying? She's _got _to be lying. This isn't like Ise-nii's idiot friends, she was _there _right up until we got to the park. She _has _to remember … doesn't she? So why … why …?" I growled and tore at my hair. "Why do I _care_? So what if she's avoiding me? She shouldn't be lying to me! So why do I feel so fucking _bad _right now? This fucking pain in my chest … It's not like I _like _her or anything."

All the energy drained out of me after those words left my mouth. I stopped dead in the centre of the room, all the frustration forgotten and only sudden realisation in its place as my heart hammered away in my chest. "Oh my God … I _do _like her …" The problem with spending so much time with one person was that I never truly realised just how _much _I liked spending that time with her until I was no longer in a position to do so. "That's why what she said … that's why her avoiding me … that's why it all _hurts _so damn much … I've … I've got a crush …"

Suitably shocked by the revelation that I had romantic feelings for my best friend, I sat down on my bed, pretty much just letting myself drop. I needed answers, but now that I thought about it, the idea of pushing her into giving them just felt _wrong_, no matter how much that information directly affected me. Now that I knew my own feelings, now that they weren't being drowned out by my attempts at joking or the negativity that had infested me throughout the day, now that I was _thinking _… I wanted to apologise for being so pushy for answers earlier, for every bad word I had just said regarding her …

I honestly couldn't bring myself to hold the secret keeping against her.

"Koneko-chan …" I said as I laid down on my bed. All that filled my head were images of her face … that pretty face … "_Koneko-chan …_" I muttered as I did what seemed impossible mere minutes ago and fell asleep.

* * *

I felt slightly better waking up that morning than I had waking up the morning before, though I still felt like death. Sleep had let that insistent pain in my chest calm somewhat, and while it was still agonising, it was at least manageably so. Even then, I couldn't bring myself to move at first. Every fibre of my being was telling me I should just lie in bed until the hurting stopped. This was the sort of thing I was trying to avoid by always keeping a smile on my face. My emotions have a habit of getting the better of me.

"Ise! Shin! Wake up! It's time for school!" Kaa-san yelled from downstairs.

I groaned and sat up in my bed. As shitty as I felt, it had nothing on how terrifying a sufficiently angry mother could be, so my sense of self-preservation won out fairly quickly. I stretched my arms out and was satisfied by all the cracks and pops that came from my joints.

"Wait, is Ise even here?" Tou-san asked Kaa-san downstairs.

"His shoes are in the entrance, so I know he came home," Kaa-san tittered. "Geez! Staying out at his friend's house so late! _And _he's going to be late for school! When I get my hands on that boy …" I was amused to find that I was still seemingly angelic in my parents' eyes. Another downside of Ise-nii's open perversion: our parents were pretty much 100% sure I was going to be the one out of the two of us who would be giving them grandchildren.

Kaa-san's footsteps were coming up the stairs. I sat up further and swung my legs off the bed, hoping to hear better, only for my little toe to hit my bedside table's leg. I instinctively flinched but found that stubbing my toe didn't hurt the hellish way it usually did. Before I could wonder about that, Ise-nii's bedroom door opened … and there was silence. Somebody said something too muffled to hear. I assumed it was Kaa-san because of the softer pitch, but then Kaa-san spoke loudly and in a robotic voice: "… GET READY QUICKLY."

Ise-nii's door slammed shut and a few seconds later Kaa-san came into my room with a worried look on her face. "Shin … who is that girl?" she asked.

"What girl?" I asked in confusion.

"The … the one in Ise's bed."

My eyes widened. "There's a girl in Ise-nii's _bed_?" I asked in disbelief.

She stared at me for a few moments more, then said "Just get dressed," before shutting my door and going back downstairs.

"What's wrong?" I heard Tou-san ask. "You look like you've seen a ghost. Oh, God, you didn't walk in on Ise having one off the wrist again, did you?"

"There's a girl in Ise's bed," Kaa-san said in a flat voice.

"Huh?"

"In Ise's bed, there is a _girl_. And she's _naked_."

"… Are you sure it's a _real _girl …?"

I didn't listen to the rest of the conversation. I stood up to get dressed as quickly as I could, I just _had _to see if this was real. What the hell had _happened _at Matsuda-san's place last night to result in Ise-nii taking a naked girl to bed with him? I leaned on my bedside table as I was standing up and it wobbled a bit, which was unusual. I looked down and saw that there was a big chunk missing from the bottom of the leg I had kicked by accident a minute ago. _Did I do that …?_

I shook the question out of my brain. Stuff like that could be worked out later. I got dressed as quickly as I could and left my bedroom just in time to see Ise-nii exiting his … accompanied by the most popular girl in school, Rias Gremory. To say my jaw dropped would be an understatement – I'm pretty sure it landed in the Earth's core.

"Wha …?" was all I could get out of my mouth as I looked between the two of them. "When the hell did _this _happen?"

"Last night," said Gremory-senpai. She smiled at me, a smile full of kindness. "Good morning, Shintaro."

The strangely familial use of my first name made my cheeks heat up. "M-Morning," I mumbled in response. I threw Ise-nii a "WTF" look, but he just shrugged at me and indicated that we should go downstairs. I got the message loud and clear – hopefully, I would get an explanation when this was explained to my parents.

* * *

"Thank you for the meal," I, Ise-nii, and Gremory-senpai all said before tucking into our breakfast.

"This is very delicious, Mrs Hyoudou," said Gremory-senpai.

"Th-Thank you very much," Kaa-san said awkwardly.

Kaa-san and Tou-san were staring at Ise-nii and Gremory-senpai with unsure expressions. I, too, was incredibly confused, but I was trying to hide it by spending time eating my food and just listening to what everybody was saying. Between the emotional roller-coaster that was yesterday and the confusion of this morning, I could feel a headache racing towards me like a freight train. I wished someone would just tell me what the hell was going on already.

"Ise, don't be rude," Gremory-senpai said sternly to Ise-nii, who was leaving his food basically untouched. "Your okaa-sama made this food for you. Eat it."

"Y-Yes," Ise-nii responded instantly, then proceeded to start eating his breakfast way too quickly.

"Damn, Ise-nii, are you even _chewing_?" I asked, slightly put off from my own food from the way he was basically _inhaling _his. "Not everything is as soft and liquidy as what you're usually given to swallow, calm the hell down."

He glared at me from across the table.

"Shintaro, you shouldn't speak in such a vulgar way at the table," Gremory-senpai admonished me. Something about the way she said it made me wilt in shame, like it was an older family member calling me out on something. "Though he does have a point, Ise. It's impolite not to eat so you can taste it." She wiped Ise-nii's mouth off with a handkerchief.

… _Wait, when the hell did I get a big sister? _I wondered. It was certainly what she was _acting _like.

"I-Ise …?" Tou-san spoke up, looking nervous. "W-Where did this lady c-come from?"

Gremory-senpai put down her chopsticks and bowed her head towards our parents. "Oh my, I apologise for not introducing myself," she said. "Mr and Mrs Hyoudou, my name is Rias Gremory. I'm an upper-classman of your two boys at Kuoh Academy. It's a pleasure to meet you." The smoothness with which she was able to say that despite the state she had been found with Ise-nii in this morning was impressive.

"I-Is that so?" Tou-san asked, looking no less put out by her presence. "Forgive me for asking, but are you from a foreign country? Your Japanese is very good."

"Yes," said Gremory-senpai. "My father works over here, so I've been living in Japan for a long time."

Tou-san looked placated by this, which I think says something about either him or the male gender as a whole, because Kaa-san was still looking at Gremory-senpai with suspicion. I would like to think it's just Tou-san – even _I _still thought this situation was weird.

"So, Rias-san …?" Kaa-san began.

"Yes, Mrs Hyoudou?" asked Gremory-senpai.

"What kind of relationship do you have with Ise?"

_Here we go, _I thought as I prepared to hear an explanation for why she was in bed naked with Ise-nii last night and this morning.

"We're just close schoolmates, Mrs Hyoudou," Gremory-senpai explained.

"That's a lie!" Kaa-san denied immediately.

_Yeah, nice try, Gremory-senpai, but nobody's falling for that. _I was pretty close to Koneko-chan, at least I thought I was, but I still couldn't picture a scenario wherein she'd be naked in my bed … not a scenario that would ever happen outside of my own torrid fantasies, anyway.

"Ise said he has nightmares, so I was just sleeping beside him," Gremory-senpai continued with the blatant lies.

"Just sleeping together!?" Kaa-san exclaimed in disbelief. "Both of you were _naked_!"

"That's pretty normal these days. People sleep a lot better together when there's less layers between them."

"I-Is that so?" Kaa-san asked quietly, much to my disbelief. "So young people are sleeping in the buff with each other these days … huh …"

_Wait … _No. No, she _couldn't_, could she? She couldn't actually _believe _what Gremory-senpai was telling her, could she? I thought not, I was so sure she didn't _actually _believe her, but the longer I looked into my mother's face, the more I saw that she really _did _believe every word that had just come out of the redhead's mouth.

My parents are _fascinatingly _stupid.

* * *

Whereas Ise-nii looked really uncomfortable with the stares we were getting from other students as we walked to school, I was completely unbothered by them. Primarily because I was still so weirded the fuck out by all of yesterday and this morning. I had received what was apparently the cliffnotes version of what was happening from Gremory-senpai, though I felt like I would need some more details before I bought what she was saying.

So, according to her, Ise-nii and I are Devils now.

_Devils._

Oh, and the reason my parents had bought that bullshit she was spouting at breakfast hook, line, and sinker was that she was using her Devil powers to mess with their heads so that they wouldn't question her presence in Ise-nii's bedroom that morning.

_Devils._

And she was also apparently our master, to boot!

_Devils._

_What the fuck is happening with my life? _I thought as I walked on one side of Gremory-senpai while Ise-nii walked on the other side, carrying her bag for her. We looked like shit bodyguards.

When we got into the school building, Gremory-senpai took her bag back from Ise-nii. "I'll send people to fetch you both later," she said. "I'll see you after school." And that was it, she just walked off and left us there to absorb everything.

Not that we had long to do that. Matsuda-san smacked Ise-nii upside the head before we could get any serious thinking done. "Explain!" he demanded of Ise-nii.

"Relax, Matsuda," Motohama-san said level-headedly. "We should at least give our good buddy a chance to explain himself. So, Ise, what happened when you left Matsuda's place last night?"

I could have stayed to listen to this, maybe make fun of Matsuda-san and Motohama-san like I usually did, but I really wasn't in the mood. I just wanted to get through the day so I could get some damn answers. I trudged through the halls of the school, and the students that knew me looked at me oddly, like they could tell something was wrong. I walked to my classroom and sat down in my seat, not really acknowledging the world around me.

"Good morning, Shin," Koneko-chan said from beside me.

"Yeah, hey," I said, and that was all. It was rude, but after yesterday … I just wasn't sure if I could make conversation without letting slip something I couldn't take back. No matter my own feelings towards her, I wouldn't ruin my relationship with Koneko-chan if I could help it. I would just get through the day, get all this shit out of my head, and our routine would go back to the way it was before.

* * *

But of course life couldn't be that simple, as I discovered when I was fetched after school. I didn't bother moving when the bell rang while everyone else got to their feet and left. Then I found Koneko-chan standing in front of my desk, waiting for me.

I sat and stared until it clicked. "You're the fetcher, huh?" I said.

"Yes," she said. "Buchou, that is Rias Gremory-senpai, asked me to bring you to our clubroom after school."

"… Okay, then." I stood up and picked by bag up, slinging it over my shoulder. "Lead on, Koneko-chan."

The walk was quiet at first. We got out of the classroom and into the bustling hallways, full of students who were going either home or to school clubs. We drew no more attention than usual. The rumour mill was having a lot of fun with the two of us since the beginning of the year. It's basically impossible to maintain a friendship with someone of the opposite sex in a school full of gossipy teenagers without words being spread, regardless of the context of the friendship.

We were almost at the exit of the main school building when Koneko-chan spoke.

"I'm sorry," she said.

"What for?" I asked.

"Leaving you in the park on Sunday night," she said. So she _did _remember … "And lying to you about remembering it. I didn't want to keep any of this from you, but I had to. Buchou told me not to say anything."

"… Then why ignore me?" I asked. I tried and failed to keep the hurt out of my voice. "You could've just played it off like everything was okay, and maybe I would've just gotten to thinking it was a dream or something. Why did you avoid me all of yesterday?"

"…" For the first time in the conversation, she hesitated. When she spoke again, there were the barest traces of emotion in her voice, something which I hadn't heard from her before. "… Because I didn't trust myself not to tell you everything the second I started talking," she admitted. "My plan was just like you said, to just pretend everything was normal. But when I lied to you yesterday morning, the look on your face … You're always so carefree, Shin-kun, that I didn't think I could hurt you like that, but the expression you had … If I had to look at it again, I thought I would just spill everything. I'm sorry I hurt your feelings, I never wanted to. And … I'm sorry for leaving you to die."

… I wasn't expecting so much from her. She'd never spoken that much in any one instance since the day I first met her, but here she was, apologising to me with more feeling in her voice than I ever heard from her before. It made me feel like shit for making her feel this guilty. How could I call myself a man if I let a cute girl feel this way? I looked at her face as we walked, and while it appeared to be stoic as usual, I could see something new in her eyes that I didn't like. I wanted to make it go away.

"You know, you're a really bad actress, anyway," I commented idly.

"What?" she asked.

"Well, you've just got the one facial expression and no voice variation. You couldn't have put a little more, 'Wow, Shin-kun, yo ass is CRAZY' into your voice when you said you didn't remember anything weird from Sunday?" I shook my head. "Shame, Koneko-chan. Shame. I really need to educate you in the art of bullshit if we're gonna keep up our double act."

"… Why are you so stupid?" she asked me. That look in her eyes I didn't like wasn't completely gone, but it faded, and as far as I'm concerned that's only a good thing.

She led me into the Old School Building, which looked a hell of a lot nicer on the inside than it did on the outside, and took me to the second floor. We stopped outside a particular classroom with a sign on the door that said "Occult Research Club."

"Buchou, I've brought Shin-kun," Koneko-chan said through the door.

"Yes, come in," Gremory-senpai said after a small wait.

Koneko-chan opened the door and led me inside. All over the walls, ceiling, and even the floor of the room, there were these weird symbols, most of them circular in nature, some of them on pieces of paper and some painted or carved directly into the various surfaces. The biggest was a circle painted onto the floor in the centre of the room that looked like a good few people could comfortably stand inside it. It gave off a really creepy vibe. There were two sofas, a coffee table, and an armchair at one point in the room, and a desk with a chair behind it in one corner. There was another door to a room off of this one (never a good thing to have, in my opinion – it gives off a real serial killer feel).

Koneko-chan went over to one of the sofas and sat down. I followed and sat next to her. There was a plate of chocolate already waiting for her on the coffee table, which she immediately picked up and started eating.

"Want one?" she offered after swallowing a piece.

"No thanks," I denied, a little surprised that she was offering me her sweets.

We were sitting there for a few minutes when somebody else, a male this time, spoke through the door and had the same exchange that Koneko-chan did. Gremory-senpai was in the other room that branched off from this one, by the sound of her voice, which was muffled by some continues hiss-like sound that reminded me of running water. When they were told to come in, one of the two who stepped through the door was Ise-nii, and the other was none other than the most popular guy in school Yuuto Kiba.

Kiba-san was handsome, even I could see it. He had short blond hair, bluish-grey eyes, and a mole underneath his left eye, just that small imperfection to emphasise how good-looking he was. He wore the school's uniform flawlessly.

"Hey, Ise-nii," I said as they entered. "Hello, Kiba-san. It's nice to meet you in person."

"Nice to meet you, as well, Hyoudou-kun," said Kiba-san.

"I believe you know of my brother," I said jokingly to Koneko-chan.

"Ah, it's nice to meet you," Ise-nii said to her.

Koneko-chan just bowed her head at him and carried on eating her sweets. He started looking through that door near the back of the room and as his face went redder and redder from realisation, it occurred to me that he looked as big a pervert as the rumours about him would suggest in that moment. Curious as to what he was seeing, I stood up to tilt my head in the direction of the room and saw a shower curtain.

"Oooooooh, that makes sense," I said, glancing at his expression before sitting back down.

"Pervert," Koneko-chan said scornfully.

Gremory-senpai exited the shower room fully dressed, though her hair was still wet. It gave her already alluring hair a shine that really did something for it. "I couldn't take a shower last night because I stayed at your place," she explained to Ise-nii and I.

"Honestly, I'm more curious about the shower _being _here than you _using _it," I said.

I was going to say more than that, maybe crack a joke or something, but seeing the girl behind Gremory-senpai took my breath away. _Akeno Himejima in the flesh … _I thought. Believe me, the awe was warranted, this woman was _beautiful_. Raven black hair that went all the way down to her legs even though it was tied up in a ponytail with an orange ribbon, captivating violet eyes, fair skin, a body so voluptuous it was straining against her uniform like it was going to break all the buttons off …

I stared, slackjawed, for several moments before saying the first thing that came to mind … which, because I'm _me_, was inappropriate humour. "So," I began, "is wearing tops three sizes too small the 'in' thing now, or are you one of those girls who gets off on being short of breath?" Koneko-chan elbowed me in the side harshly. "Ow!" I looked over and saw her glaring at me intensely. It made me nervous.

…

…

…

I am _so _lucky that Himejima-senpai started laughing. She did so elegantly, putting a hand in front of her smile as her eyes twinkled with amusement. "I _like _this one," she said. "And for the record," she winked, "it's the latter."

I got the sudden urge to unbutton my shirt to get rid of the heat that coated my entire body the second she winked. _Did that line actually _work_? _I thought in disbelief. I nervously looked at Koneko-chan to see how she was reacting only to find she was no longer glaring at me, but was now glaring at Himejima-senpai. _And did she just move closer to me on the sofa? Or is that just my imagination?_

It was probably my imagination.

Himejima-senpai bowed to Ise-nii and I. "My name is Akeno Himejima," she said. I was too focused on the way her chest was moving with her bending over to pay close attention. Not that I needed to, anyway. There wasn't a guy in school who didn't know who she was. "Pleased to make your acquaintance."

"Looks like everyone is here," said Gremory-senpai. "Now, Ise, Shintaro, we, the Occult Research Club, welcome you … as Devils."

_And here it is, _I thought. _Time to get those answers._

Himejima-senpai gave everyone tea. I sipped it carefully, allowing myself to taste it as well as making sure it didn't sear my mouth too badly, as most hot beverages usually seem to on the first sip. "This stuff is superb," I said. She had brewed it just right.

"Yeah, it tastes good," Ise-nii agreed.

"Thank you very much," Himejima-senpai said with a small laugh. Then she went and sat next to Gremory-senpai on the other sofa, along with Kiba-san. Ise-nii had settled down on the other end of the sofa Koneko-chan and myself were occupying. There was a surprising amount of room on that side of the sofa … maybe Koneko-chan _had _moved closer to me …

"I'll get to the point," Gremory-senpai said, cutting off my train of thought. "We're all Devils." She waited for a response. "Your expressions say you don't believe me. Ise, you did see the man with black wings last night, didn't you?"

"Wait, what?" I asked. I was passed over.

"That was a Fallen Angel," Gremory-senpai explained. "They were once Angels who served God but fell from grace due to acts of sin. They're an enemy of us Devils. We've been at war since ancient times. We've been fighting over possession of the Underworld, what you humans would know as Hell. The Underworld is basically split in half because of this, with the Devils occupying one side, the Fallen Angels the other. Devils make pacts with humans in exchange for sacrifices in order to build our strength, whereas the Fallen Angels manipulate humans to eliminate Devils. Then, one day, God ordered his Angels to destroy both sides of the conflict, and thus the three-way conflict that troubles us even to this day began."

"Oh, wait, I know what this is," I said. "This is the part at the beginning of the RPG where a crapton of lore is just dropped into our laps, right?"

"Yeah, this … it's kinda hard to believe," said Ise-nii. "Is this what you guys do all day?"

"The Occult Research Club is just a way of camouflaging us from the humans of the school," said Gremory-senpai. "In reality, it's a gathering place for my Peerage of Devils." She paused, I assume to see if we believed her yet. She clearly didn't see any sign because she went on. "Yuuma Amano."

My breath hitched in my throat. It was the first time anyone other than Ise-nii had said that name since the day of the date.

"You went on a date with a girl named Yuuma Amano, right?" Gremory-senpai pressed Ise-nii.

"… If this is a joke, you can stop it now," said Ise-nii. "I don't find it funny. I don't want to talk about this here." The hurt in his voice was tangible. If not for the fact that Koneko-chan was sitting between us, I would have laid a comforting hand on his shoulder.

"She existed," Gremory-senpai said with conviction. "She tried to erase all the evidence of her existence left behind, _that's _why nobody can remember her but you two." She clicked her fingers and Himejima-senpai put a photograph on the coffee table. "This is her, right? Yuuma Amano." It was her, all right. Amano-san's face was in that picture, plain as day, even though all the photos of her in Ise-nii's phone were gone. "She is a Fallen Angel. The same kind of creature that attacked you last night, Ise."

"Wait, wait, hold on," I said. "Ise-nii was attacked last night?"

"By this weirdo in a big coat," Ise-nii said. His voice was devoid of emotion, likely due to the shock of everything that was being said. "I passed out after he stabbed me. I don't remember anything else before waking up in bed this morning."

"This Fallen Angel calling herself Yuuma Amano," Gremory-senpai continued, "came into contact with you, Ise, to accomplish her goal. After she accomplished it, she got rid of any evidence that she'd ever been here."

"What the hell was she trying to achieve?" I asked.

"She wanted to kill Ise."

"Why!?" Ise-nii asked loudly. He was really starting to flip out over this. "Why did she need to kill me!?"

"Calm down, Ise," Gremory-senpai said gently. "This isn't exactly uncommon. No … you were just unlucky. There were possessors that weren't killed …"

"What do you mean, unlucky!?"

"Ise-nii," I said, gaining his attention. "Calm down. I know it's hard, I'm not exactly happy hearing this myself, but we're not going to get anywhere if we keep on like this."

He took a few deep breaths, visibly trying to calm himself, and sat down again.

"At the end of your date," Gremory-senpai went on, "you went to the park, where she killed you with a spear of light, then killed Shintaro when she found out he'd seen her."

"But we're still alive!" Ise-nii argued. "Why the hell was I targeted!?"

"She had to get close to you so she could look for something inside of you, something dangerous. The signal she got from it mustn't have been very strong at first, otherwise she would've acted sooner. She only went through with her plan of attack when she realised you did indeed possess a Sacred Gear."

"What's a Sacred Gear?" I asked when Ise-nii failed to respond.

"It's an irregular power found in certain humans," Kiba-san explained. "Most major historical figures are said to have been Sacred Gear possessors. They used their Sacred Gears to achieve the things they're known for."

"It's the same thing nowadays," Himejima-senpai added. "All those people with major roles on a worldwide scale? Sacred Gear possessors, most if not all of them."

"Most Sacred Gears are useless outside of human society," Gremory-senpai explained. "But there are Sacred Gears with powers that can be threatening to supernatural beings such as us Devils, Fallen Angels, and even Angels. Ise, raise your hand."

Ise-nii raised his left arm with confusion written on his face.

"Close your eyes and imagine the strongest thing that comes to mind," Gremory-senpai ordered.

"Strongest being …?" Ise-nii thought aloud. "Hmm … Son Goku from _Dragon Ball _…"

"That's it, now imagine him in a pose you associate with strength. When he appears the strongest." She waited for Ise-nii to get a good idea. "Now slowly lower your arm and stand up." He did so. "Now mimic the pose you were imagining. Keep it really clear in your mind, okay? You cannot hold back."

_Oh my God, is this really happening? _I thought as a grin that threatened to split the skin of my face spread across my cheeks. _Am I about to see my big brother playing Son Goku at the age of seventeen? Oh, comedy gods, how you have blessed me this day! I shall cherish this memory forever and ever!_

I watched on in glee as Ise-nii put his hands together in the same fashion as Goku does on _Dragon Ball_. Then he thrust his hands forward and shouted, "Kamehameha!" Something changed when he did. The atmosphere of the room felt … _heavier_, somehow, like there was something in the air pressing down on me that wasn't there before.

"Now open your eyes," said Gremory-senpai. "This place is filled with demonic power, so your Sacred Gear will appear more easily."

Ise-nii did as he was told and opened his eyes. A blinding flash emanated from his left arm, causing me to shield my eyes for a split-second, then it dissipated just as quickly. I opened my eyes again and saw that Ise-nii's left hand was now covered by a red gauntlet. There was what appeared to be a green gem at the centre of the back of his hand. "What the hell is this!?" he shouted, looking down at it.

"That's your Sacred Gear, Ise," said Gremory-senpai. "Now that you've summoned it, you can call upon it anytime, anywhere. The Fallen Angel, Yuuma Amano, saw this Sacred Gear as a threat and killed you for it. You summoned me when you were on the verge of death, using this." She held up a flier with some demonic-looking symbols on it and a phrase – "your wish will be granted." "This is one of the fliers we give out. The magic circle is the same as the one on the floor in here, and is used to summon us. We have to hand these out since the days of people summoning Devils to gain every little desire have long since passed. The day you died, my Familiar was handing these out in town and you were given one. After you were attacked by the Fallen Angel, you called out to me when you were on the verge of death. You must have wished particularly hard to summon me. Normally, one of my servants is summoned. I sensed you had a Sacred Gear in you, so I decided to save your life by bringing you back as my Devil servant."

"Um," I said, raising my hand. "Okay, so I get the picture about why you brought Ise-nii back, what with the Sacred Gear and all. But why me? I'm not at all special, am I? Why bring me back?" It was a question I didn't want to ask, to be honest, but I had to know. If the reason she brought Ise-nii back was that Sacred Gear, then what was she getting out of me being here? I just couldn't see a reason.

"There were a couple of reasons, actually," said Gremory-senpai. "The first thing I noticed is that you have usually high potential for growth, and I mean that in a supernatural sense. Devils can see potential in humans to a certain degree. We have to if we're going to build up our servants, you can't always count on a Sacred Gear possessor falling into your lap. The second and more important reason, however, is Koneko." She smiled fondly. "You should have seen her asking me to bring you back. I couldn't bring myself to let one of my servants lose somebody she's so fond of, so the decision seemed obvious."

"Buchou …" Koneko-chan very nearly groaned. She looked embarrassed, and it was adorable.

But I was thinking about more than how adorable she looked while embarrassed when I was looking at her. _She … asked Gremory-senpai to bring me back? _The idea of it sent my heart fluttering. I felt red rising to my cheeks not unlike the red currently in hers, though I suspect I had less control over its presence. I felt not a smirk, but a genuine smile grow on my face. _Koneko-chan …_

I was snapped out of it when bat-like wings sprung from everybody's backs, startling me and Ise-nii. I felt an extra weight on my back and turned to look, finding that those same wings were sprouting out of my back, too. _Holy shit, I can fly, _I realised with growing excitement.

"Let's introduce ourselves anew," Gremory-senpai suggested. "Yuuto."

"My name is Yuuto Kiba," said Kiba-san. "I'm a second year. Like you, Hyoudou-kun. I'm a Devil, too. Nice to meet you."

"First year," said Koneko-chan. "Koneko Toujou. Pleased to make your acquaintance. I'm a Devil, too."

"My name is Akeno Himejima, and I'm a third year," said Himejima-senpai. "I'm the vice-president of the Occult Research Club. Nice to meet you. Even though I'm like this, I'm also a Devil." She gave off a little laugh at the end.

"And I'm their master as well as yours, a Devil from the house of Gremory," Gremory-senpai said with a flourish of her hair. "My house holds the rank of Duke. Let's get along, Ise, Shintaro."

Taking a breath, I stood up and bowed. "I am Shintaro Hyoudou, first year," I said clearly. "I guess I'm a Devil now, too. I won't lie, I probably won't look like I'm taking things seriously a lot of the time, but I'll work my hardest to show that you didn't make a mistake in bringing me back." I might have overplayed it, but having discovered that Ise-nii was so special by supernatural standards, I felt that I had to work extra hard to make sure I wasn't just a waste of a servant. Rather than sitting back down, I leant down to speak to Koneko-chan. "Can we talk outside for a minute, Koneko-chan?"

She tilted her head curiously, but nodded, following me out of the room.

"What did you want to talk ab—"

Before she could finish speaking, I wrapped her in a hug. Not glomping her in a jokey hug like I'd done in the past, by an attempt to show genuine affection and warmth. She went rigid. "I'm sorry if I was harsh at all before," I said. "I was confused and kinda scared, and I … I thought badly of you when I thought you were just ignoring me. I shouldn't have. I should never think anything bad about my best girl, should I?"

As I spoke, I felt her relax in my arms.

"And … you don't need to be sorry about what happened in the park," I said softly. "I don't think there's anything for you to be sorry for, but since I get the feeling you need to hear it, here you go … I forgive you."

With those final words, she relaxed completely into the hug and wrapped her arms around me in return. We stayed out there like that for a few precious moments and then rejoined the others in what was now the clubroom I belonged to. Before we got through the door, however, I added some more words.

"Thank you for saving my life."


End file.
